Thomas Goldsmith - Earl Scruggs and Foggy Mountain Breakdown: The Making of an American Classic

This book exists because of the generosity and friendship that Earl and Louise Scruggs and family showed me for many years in Nashville, a relationship that continued in the years after I returned to my native state of North Carolina. I first approached Earl and Louise as they sat alone at a table during an event at Johnny Cash's house (to promote June Carter's book about her mother Maybelle's cooking). We bonded as fellow North Carolinians and music fans. The face-to-face interviews I had with Earl form the heart of this book.

Beyond that starting place, major thanks go to Jim Mills, to Bla Fleck, to Greg Earnest, and to the indefatigable source of energy known as F. H. Flash of Flint Hill, North Carolina. They are among the leaders in the study of Earl, his banjo, and his art.

Thanks to my editor, Laurie Matheson of the University of Illinois Press, who ended our first, hasty conversation about this book by saying, I guess if anybody can do it, you can. Valuable help also came from press staff, including Julianne Rose Laut, Nancy Albright, Roger Cunningham, Dustin Hubbart, Angela Burton, Jennifer Argo, and Heather Gernenz.

Scholar and picker Murphy Henry and my best friend, Marshall Wyatt, provided invaluable feedback and encouragement to early drafts. If mistakes remain, they are on me. The anonymous reader for UIP who raised serious questions about my first draft should get credit for many later improvements. I enjoyed and benefited from trading Flatt and Scruggs lore with Penny Parsons as she worked on her Curly Seckler biography. Thanks to my friend Stacy Chandler for a round of copy editing that used both her daily journalism and music expertise.

Banjothon leaders Mike Johnson, Larry Mathis, and Barry Palmer showed me friendship and hospitality, starting in the days when the event was still held at a senior center in Maryville, Tennessee.

Thanks to Anne Tyler, who in a few lines gave me a sense of what it means to finish a book.

Special thanks to Charley Pennell for his stellar work in indexing this book.

Research resources included Ken Beck, Bob Carlin, Walter and Christie Carter, Carter Vintage Instruments, Nashville, Tennessee; Greg Earnest, Prewar Gibson Mastertone Banjos website, Atlanta; East Tennessee Historical Society, Knoxville, Tennessee; Ranger Doug Green, George Gruhn, Gruhn Guitars, Nashville, Tennessee; Shelby resident and historian Jim Kunkle; Brent Lamons, picker and historian; Teresa Leonard, News & Observer; Lexington Public Library, Lexington, Kentucky; Paley Center for Media, New York City, New York; Brian Powers, Cincinnati Public Library; bluegrass journalism dean Neil V. Rosenberg; John Rumble, Country Music Foundation; Elliott Ruther, Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation; The Scruggs Center, Shelby, North Carolina; Joti Rockwell, associate professor of music, Pomona College; Wake County Public Library, Raleigh, North Carolina; Ben Runkle of Raleigh, North Carolina; J. T. Scruggs of Shelby, North Carolina; Steve Weiss, Aaron Smithers, and crew, Southern Folklife Collection, UNCChapel Hill; and Marshall Wyatt, Old Hat Records.

Interviews, some conducted in years past for other projects, included Eddie Adcock; Walter and Christie Carter; J. D. Crowe; Jerry Douglas; Bla Fleck; Alice Gerrard; George Gruhn; John Hedgecoth; Jerry Keys; Gene Knight; Brent Lamons; Dan Loftin; Jesse McReynolds; Steve Martin; Jim Mills; Tim O'Brien; Sonny Osborne; Earl, Louise, and Gary Scruggs; J. T. Scruggs; Curly Seckler; Sammy Shelor; Lily Werbin; and especially Mac Wiseman, who remembered so much. Sadly for people who love this music, Seckler and Wiseman died as this book neared publication, and are much missed. Special thanks go to the late Bill Monroe, who talked generously to me on many occasions after I came up with some good questions.

Finally, thanks times one million go to my beloved wife, Renee, and to my excellent children, Kelsey, Hudson, and Nate, for sticking with me and for believing that there must be a purpose to the several years I spent on this book.

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